This invention relates to a transmission of motor three-wheelers and more particularly to an improved transmission for powered vehicles.
Most motorcycles are powered by a power unit that consists of an internal combustion engine and change speed transmission. The change speed transmission is frequently built into a common casing with the crankshaft of the engine and thus provides an extremely compact power unit. Because of the compactness of motorcycle power units, there are advantages to using such power units for propelling other types of motor vehicles. Specifically, the power unit of a motorcycle is particularly adaptable for use in off the road three wheel or four wheel vehicles. However, it is desirable with such three and four wheel vehicles to employ a reverse gear in the transmission. Most motorcycle transmissions do not employ a reverse gear. Therefore, it has been generally the practice not to provide a reverse gear when such power units are used with three and four wheel vehicles, thus somewhat limiting the adaptability of such vehicles when powered by a motorcycle power unit.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved transmission mechanism for adapting a motorcycle power unit to powering another type of wheeled vehicle.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved, simplified and yet compact transmission mechanism for a wheeled vehicle that includes a plurality of forward speeds and at least one reverse speed.
The output shaft of motorcycle power units normally extends out one side of the transmission and in generally parallel relationship to the drive shaft of the engine. Although such an arrangement has particular adaptability in connection with motorcycles, it tends to create some design problems when employed with wheeled vehicles having two rear wheels driven by the power unit. This is particularly true when the rear axle assembly is driven by a drive shaft from the motorcycle power unit.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide a more compact arrangement for the transmission mechanism of a wheeled vehicle.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a power unit for a wheeled vehicle in which the drive shaft extends perpendicularly to the engine driven shaft.